CHEMISTS A2O) CHE3IISTKT. 



of adversity had been upon her, 

 and now her attire was plain, sim- 

 ply a dress of snowy white ; the 

 test which the straitened cir- 

 cumstances to which she had been 

 reduced allowed her to assume. 

 Quite a contrast to her was her 

 mother Carbon, whom you would 

 have supposed to be a widow in 

 deep mourning, or a nun who had 

 taken the black veil, so sable were 

 her garments, so gloomy her coun- 

 tenance, had not her earrings of 

 polished jet, and a circlet of dia- 

 monds that glittered on her brow, 

 evinced that she had not yet alto- 

 gether renounced the vanities of 

 the world. The belle of the room 

 appeared to be Nitrous Acid, the 

 graceful daughter of Nitrogen; airy 

 in all her movements, and with 

 dress of deepest crimson, that cor- 

 responded well with a lip and 

 <;heek rivalling the ruby in their 

 redness. 



Among the lady metals too, there 

 were many of bright faces and re- 

 splendent charms ; but I must pass 

 on to a description of the gentle- 

 men of the party. Sulphur wore a 

 suit of modest yellow-plush, while 

 Phosphorus quite disconcerted 

 some of the most decorous matrons 

 present, by making his appearance 

 in a pair of flesh-coloured tights. 

 Phosphuretted Hydrogen, or, as he 

 is nicknamed " Will of the Wisp," 

 startled me by flitting by in a robe 

 of living flame, the dress in which 

 the graceless youngster is said to 

 haunt church-yards and marshy 

 places, playing his pranks upon 

 poor benighted travellers. 



The king of the metals, Gold, was 

 arrayed in truly gorgeous apparel ; 

 though it must be confessed there 

 was a glitter and an air of haugh- 

 tiness about him, from which 

 you would turn with pleasure to 

 the mild sweet face of his royal 

 sister, Silver, who leaned upon his 

 arm; a bright -eyed, unassuming 

 creature, of sterling worth. 



Mercury wns there, as lively and 

 versatile as ever; a most restless 

 being; now by the thermometer, 

 noting the subterranean tempera- 

 ture; now by the barometer, pre- 

 dicting a storm in the regions over- 

 head; now arm-in-arm with this 

 metal, then with that ; and they all, 

 by the way, save stern old Iron, had 

 hard work to shake him off. A 

 strange character surely was he ; a 

 philosopher of uncommon powers 

 of reflection ; the veriest busy-body 

 in the world ; well versed in the art 

 of healing; a practical amalgama- 

 tionist ; in short, a complete facto- 

 tum. Potassium, though a decidedly 

 brilliant-looking fellow, manifested 

 too much levity in his deportment 

 to win respect, and was pronounced 

 by those who knew him best, to be 

 rather soft. In gravity, Platinum, 

 surpassed all the company ; in na- 

 tural brightness, Tin was outshone 

 by few. 



When Oxygen arrived, and his 

 light, elastic tread was heard, and 

 his clear, transparent countenance 

 was seen among them, a murmur 

 of congratulation ran round the 

 drawing-room, and involuntarily 

 all assembled arose to do him hom- 

 age. He was a patriarch indeed 

 among them ; literally a father to 

 many of the younger guests. His 

 arrival was the signal for adjourn- 

 ment to the banqueting - room, 

 where of right he took his seat at 

 the head of the table. 



Touching the apartment we had 

 now entered, I can only say that it 

 was grand beyond description ! It 

 was lighted up with the radiance 

 of noon-day, by an arch of flame 

 intensely dazzling, produced by a 

 curious apparatus which Galvan- 

 ism, who excels in these matters, 

 had contrived for the occasion, out 

 of some materials with which his 

 friends Zinc and Copper had fur- 

 nished him. Festoons of ever- 

 greens and wreaths of roses encir- 

 cled the alabaster columns, and 



